We often get the same question with
“I’m new, what distro do you recommend?”
and I think we should make a list/ discussion on what is our pick for each person, and just link that post for them to give them an easy recommendation.
So I made a quick flow chart (will get polished as soon as I get your input) with my personal recommendations. It is on the bottom of the text, so you see the rest of the text here too.
I will also explain each distro in a few, short sentences and in what aspects they do differ and what makes them great.
Here are my “controversial” things I want to discuss with you first, as I don’t want to spread nonsense:
Nobara
I don’t know if we should recommend it as a good gaming distro. In my opinion, it’s a highly insecure and experimental distro, made by one individual. I mean, sure, it gives you a slightly better experience ootb compared to vanilla Fedora, but:
- As said, it’s made by one single guy. If he decides to quit this project, many many people will just stop getting updates.
- There are many security-things, especially SELinux, disabled.
- It’s severely outdated. Some security fixes take months until they arrive on Nobara.
- It contains too many tweaks, especially kernel modifications and performance enhancers. Therefore, it might be less reliable.
I think, Bazzite is the way superior choice. It follows the same concept, but implements it in way better fashion:
- Just as up-to-date as the normal Fedora, due to automatic GitHub build actions.
- No burden of maintenence, either on the user or the dev side.
- Fully intact security measures.
- And much more.
Immutable distros
I’m a huge fan of them and think, that they are a perfect option for newcomers. They can’t brick them, they update themselfes in the background, they take a lot of complexity compared to a traditional system, and much more.
Especially uBlue and VanillaOS are already set up for you and “just work”.
If you want to know more about image-based distros, I made a post about them btw :)
VanillaOS
It’s the perfect counterpart for Mint imo. It follows the same principle (reliable, sane, easy to use, very noob friendly, etc.), but in a different way of achiving that.
The main problems are:
- The team behind it isn’t huge or well established yet, except for the development of Bottles.
- They want to do many things their own way (own package manager, etc.) instead of just using established stuff.
- The current release (V2, Orchid) is still in beta atm.
I see a huge potential in that particular distro, but don’t know if I should recommend it at this point right now.
ZorinOS
I think, for people who don’t like change, it’s great, but it can be very outdated. What’s your opinion on that distro? It looks very modern on the surface and is very noob friendly, but under the hood, very very old.
Pop!_OS
Same with that. Currently, there’s only the LTS available, since System76 is currently very busy with their new DE. I don’t know if we should recommend it anymore.
I made the list of recommendations relatively small on purpose, as it can be a bit overwhelming for noobs when they get a million recommendations with obscure distros.
Do you think that there are any distros missing or a bad recommendation?
You need to limit the options.
Linux systems
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Debian (stable, almost no bloatware, user unfriendly, apt)
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ArchLinux (unstable, bleeding edge software, user unfriendly, pacman)
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RHEL/ Fedora (semi-stable, newer software, relatively user friendly, dnf)
Then at max list 3 Systems that derive from each main OS.
Like
Debian: Ubuntu, Mint, PoP!OS ArchLinux: manjaro… Fedora: Nobara…
Where each should be user friendly to use. Also explain what stable means, like that unstable doesn’t mean shit breaks on a regular basis but rather it can sometimes happen. Normal desktop users don’t need the stability of Debian. But it is nice to have if you can live with outdated software (if it isn’t already on flatpak).
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What about recommending something like MX Linux if someone has an old laptop lying around and wants to revive it, and get into Linux this way?
And the question “Win 7 was the last good version” made me laugh. I remember the old times. All the viruses on XP… but it used to crash way less that it’s predecessors. Vista which was super slow and annoying. Feels like they’re making some progress since 7. (Okay, now they’re adding more and more data collection and annoyances to it.) But if I look back to Windows 7… I’m not feeling nostalgia 😆
Good idea. I’ve never used it or saw it recommended that much.
Can you tell me more about it?
Do you think there’s a big need for laptops with way less than 4 GB RAM? I’d say no, because there are barely any this old devices around, and most people here ask for their gaming PC or a mid range laptop.
I’m just afraid people tend to overestimate their need to choose a “lightweight” distro and then complain that it feels old and barebones and that “Linux sucks, I go back to Windows because Steam behaves weird”.
Can you tell me your experience and provide more information?
Uh, my knowledge is a bit lacking. But I’ve been asked that question before. I don’t think there are that many devices with less than 3GB around anymore. And they’re probably 32bit, too. And have all kind of other issues, like modern webpages being way more demanding than in 2003. I’d skip all the details, people know what feels old and needs special treatment. If someone has an Athlon K7 with 512MB of RAM, they either need to get it recycled or a dedicated tutorial for that. Everything above should be handled by a good (32bit) distro with LXDE, LXQT, XFCE or something like that.
I think MX Linux is a good choice. I’ve also used a plain Debian with XFCE desktop for that. Other choices include: Bohdi Linux, Zorin OS Lite, AntiX, Linux Lite, Puppy Linux, Q4OS, LUbuntu, Linux Mint Xfce, Tiny Core, LXLE, Slax, peppermintOS, crunchbang++ and Sparky Linux.
Do you think that there are any distros missing
Yes, my easy to setup and use Debian-based daily driver, Q4OS.
IMHO any distro recommendation chart for new users that lacks Ubuntu LTS is not credible. Downvote away.
I feel like that might be Debian stable now? With Ubuntu adopting snaps and Debian containing firmware in the installation iso.
Yeah Debian 12 made Ubuntu LTS obsolete.
Sleeping on it: major version upgrades. In Debian there’s no automatic way to do it as far as I know?
For people with little technical experience, this could be a substantial hurdle or even problem.Apt-get dist-upgrade is a Debian invention. From before Ubuntu existed.
But it doesn’t do any custom upgrade steps? For a correct upgrade, you need to follow Debian’s manual. Otherwise you will break things afaik
If you’re asserting dist-upgrades are not supposed to be unattended, you’re right. By design. If it’s something else, then I don’t follow.
apt-get dist-upgrade instead of apt upgrade is debian’s way in reconstructing a system victim of the shortcoming of poor package management that can not be healed otherwise.
Could be, I haven’t tested it in a while on a desktop or a laptop. Snaps are fine for new users. In fact they are a net benefit. I’m speaking from point of view of availability of software and function, not technology or ideology.
Ubuntu and KDE was a horrible experience for me. They theme GNOME like hell which is very controversial too. Their snaps are basically a one-company-project nobody really likes.
I really like that you want to spend time and effort into exploring this problem formulation.
At first you need to formulate the problem and the current setting and goal.
- A user searches a distro and has a minimum requirement demand.
- What are the necessary tools a distro must have in order to fit the demand of the user?
- The goal is to find a distro that fits the demand, at least the minimum.
- Does the user start with a computer or will he buy a new one?
- what are all requirements?
- which distro fits those requirements, which doesn’t, and why? Is it a out of the box problem or is just a package missing?
it’s very difficult
Imo, First requirement should be that it has to automatically boot, always. If a distro is not able to ensure this without major user input it’s not a state of the art distro. Any system has to boot always. You shall never be left with a broken system.
You have to provide info why the distro of choice is the best distro for said use case. Otherwise the reader will just pass if he doesn’t like the distro. It has to be convincing
I can’t read some text on there, you should make the image have a background since, at least my browser (firefox) seems to default to white for PNGs
A few suggestions:
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Start with a question of the user’s technical proficiency. This is probably the biggest deciding factor for picking a distro, since some lean heavily toward technically-adept audiences and some are designed for people who’ve never used a computer before.
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Include questions on device type, such as desktop/laptop. Using Linux on a laptop typically requires more research.
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Instead of asking about Windows specifically, maybe ask “which OS are you most comfortable with?” with arrows for different versions of Windows, macOS, iOS, Android (and even Linux?).
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Make every endpoint self-contained and unambiguous, with at least one concrete recommendation. Avoid vague statements like “use what you want”, and avoid referring to other branches of the flowchart. If it makes sense to converge with other branches, use a labelled arrow to point to that branch instead (this will probably require curve support in your design tool to be legible).
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Write each box in the form of a question, and label the arrows with answers to that question. I honestly have no idea how to read the “gaming focused” box because it has two bullet points and no indication of what each arrow means. I also can’t tell how to read the “general purpose/gaming” box without reading down both paths. And why does the Bazzite box point to popOS? What does this mean? Clearer labels would help.
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The red endpoints on the left could be in a single box, since they follow the same path. Alternatively, add more questions to that path to meaningfully differentiate each option. Same with the two clusters of blue endpoints on the right.
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Be more explicit in the terms for use cases, since “general purpose” is a bit vague (I would consider gaming to fall under “general purpose”, myself). You could have paths for e.g. “web browsing and office work”, “gaming”, “media creation”, “software development or scientific computing”. Some of these paths might converge later, and that’s okay.
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Move the “This is too complicated” box up top. It’s funny and probably more useful there as a kind of “TL;DR”. Since it’s not related to Nvidia, its current placement is odd.
Thank you for your very valuable and helpful criticism!
I like especially your “what OS are you the most comfortable with?”-question, that one is very great!The rest is also very well thought out, I will implement it as best as I can! :)
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I know people will disagree, but the correct answer to “I’m new, what distro would you recommend” is Mint. No list required.
It’s a capable, easy to start with, general purpose distro that works like Debian, one of the Linux gold standards, under the hood.It has its flaws, but it gives you a fully functional system with everything an average user can expect from Linux, by clicking “Next” a couple of times. And it’s never really the wrong option no matter what you want in a desktop system, freeing newcomers from the overwhelming options that are out there.
So use Mint until you know which distro fits you better.
Unless you want to play modern demanding games. Not so modern and not so demanding ones play fine on Mint though.
imho getting windows-based games running on linux isn’t for someone ‘new’ to linux. they gotta get their feet wet first, and mint is an excellent choice for that… or they will be spending all their gaming time–not gaming.
Where’s the difference to other distros for this?
Newer kernels and, in case of Nvidia, newer drives. Mint, being based off of LTS, will always lag behind. For the most demanding games, the performance hit will make a difference.
That’s not modern games, that’s brand new hardware. It’s a good suggestion, but different than what you originally said.
My prefered OS is missing. Must be a bug. Plz add NixOS kthx
Already done in the final version ;) But you won’t be happy, I’ve put it into my “pain”-category :D
Guix > Nix, because I’m more angry about not being able to run the former than the latter.
ZorinOS
I think, for people who don’t like change, it’s great, but it can be very outdated. What’s your opinion on that distro? It looks very modern on the surface and is very noob friendly, but under the hood, very very old.
It’s great for people who have simple requirements and older hardware. Basically for folks who just want to use a PC for basic computing tasks like Web browsing, emails, document editing, printing/scanning etc. The thing about Zorin is that it uses a traditional UI/UX which is easily to navigate for non-technical people, and it’s stable enough that you almost never run into any issues (assuming you’re sticking with standard distro packages and config).
My elderly parents have been using Zorin for several years now and they’ve never had a issue. The only time they called me was to help install their new printer last year (which was reasonably easy to install), and that was it.
So I’d recommend Zorin for anyone who has very basic computing needs, and they are not using a brand new/high-end PC.
Instead of “use anything” you could put in “Debian.”
while i find the colours you chose appealing, a bunch of the font colours are too close to stand out well over their backgrounds? there are a few that are genuinely hard to read-- some better contrast would help a lot also, the vertical column is a bit weird to follow? like, what’s the process of going down after being asked about windows versions to get to gaming preference? it’s a weird way to have the path work. even if you just put something like “i don’t particularly care about windows” as the third option would help a little, i think?
sorry that’s mostly about your graphic, and not the actual recommendations, lol
The graph was just a quick sketch in my note-taking app Logseq.
I mainly wanted to know if the flowchart made sense. When I do it properly, I’ll use a different software :)
Debian and OpenSUSE Tumbleweed should be in there somewhere.
Do you think that those are great beginner distros?
I think TW is a very good distro, but not specifically for beginners. In your opinion, what redeeming qualities does it have for that use case, compared to other, more well known distros out there? I especially think that the rolling release is not needed for the beginning.
For Debian, same thing. I mean, especially since the newest release, it’s definitely a better ootb-experience than it was before, BUT:
- the installer (first impression) is very ugly and needlessly complicated
- Zorin has a similar release schedule, but looks better by default (Debian is very vanilla) and has some very useful tools for beginners specifically.
- Debian is relatively lean, which might be good for intermediate and advanced users, but for noobs, I quite like the idea of “bloat”, aka a lot of pre-installed software.
Well, TBH I’m far from a distro hopper so I’ll leave comparing install experiences to those who have experience with that.
That said, Debian was the first distro I’ve hopped to from Conectiva, back in the late nineties / early aughts. So the Debian installer asks you for a few more questions. I don’t think that’s a big deal, and if the newbie thinks it is, perhaps they need some help installing any distro.
The absolute stability of Debian is a great asset for a newcomer. I remember the absolute bliss and relief that everything just worked on it. Not like my previous experience with Linux and definitely not like Windows. This newfound stability emboldened me try new things - new DEs, new apps, everything! This is perfect for a newcomer. The only thing preventing me from getting more stuff was my dial up bills and my hard drive.
I also chose Debian back then because of the restrictions of the DFSG. I wanted to have a completely free system and Debian delivers an awesome free system.
Back to Tumbleweed. It’s not your run of the mill rolling release. Their packages receive a lot more testing and it’s considered a very stable distro for desktops. Like the other commenter said, the right integration with Btrfs snapshots is awesome. All package operations are preceded by an automatic snapshot. Recovering from a snafu is quick and painless. So, though a completely different route, it’s also a great distro to try new stuff.
Tumbleweed also has the advantage of OpenSUSE’s philosophy of being able to configure everything graphically. Their YaST2 control panel is a great piece of software, if a little daunting.
So, while I wouldn’t say they are for everyone, I do say they are great beginner distros, for the right beginners. Debian for those that don’t care for the newest version of programs and just want the system to always work (and want to get free from proprietary software as much as possible). Tumbleweed for those that do want the newest versions but want peace of mind and GUI configuration.
The Tumbleweed installer is beautiful, and straightforward. I am not sure how a newcomer would understand, or not, the partition setup if they need to keep windows and dual-boot ; if it’s about to wipe the entire machine, it is one of the best, sleekest installers out there. Then package management can be a nightmare if you need to stray out of he beaten path unfortunately. Another argument for TW is the perfect integration of BTRFS, Snapper and Rollback (it is an opensuse project after all) ; I swear I’d still be on TW if it wasn’t for some exotic software availabiity.
To me, debian does bring bloat: LibreOffice comes to mind. A default install will feature calendars, mails, weather whatever.
I think beginners spend too much time and effort on the “choose a distro” quest. Choosing a DE is far more important than that.
Just that you need a Distro packaging that DE. I chose KDE and never switched, but I hopped distros as they where either too old, or broken, or unstable.
5.27 on Kinoite is pretty great though. Would recommend and I think Kubuntu etc. staying with it do the right thing.
Plasma 6 works pretty well too though, so it was many many KDE problems. But as switching DE was no option, I hopped Distros.
